The GP has a "West-centric" view that, in that context, is largely correct. French used to be far more prominent in the West. It used to be the language of dipl

The GP has a "West-centric" view that, in that context, is largely correct. French used to be far more prominent in the West. It used to be the language of diplomacy. It's still the second most spoken language in the EU but it's declining [1]: "French is the second most widely spoken language in the European Union and the second most widely learned language in the world, but despite its strong international position, the outlook for French in Europe is not so encouraging. Over the last four years, the number of French-speakers in the continent has fallen by 8%." It has of course been supplanted by English as the lingua franca. French is still prominent in large parts of Africa but is facing increasing competition from English and Arabic. The huge number of human languages is a product of a bygone era of isolation. A Darwinian process has ensued that is seeing that number constantly whittled down and outside of truly primitive cultures (there are still people in the world living effectively in the Stone Age) I imagine within 100 years you'll see a smaller number of languages spoken by a larger portion of the global population. [1]: http://www.euractiv.com/sections/languages-culture/french-languages-global-gains-hide-decline-europe-310014 http://www.euractiv.com/sections/languages-culture/french-la...